Virgin Care will be given a £700million contract to run NHS services in Bath and North East Somerset - the first time a for-profit firm will deliver a council's social care for adults.

B&NES councillors have just voted in favour of the deal, cementing a decision by health bosses earlier in the day (November 10) to let Virgin Care run community health and social care services in the district.

The deal will see Virgin Care run or oversee more than 200 health care and social care services in the area and marks the first time a council's core adult social work services will be delivered by a for-profit private firm.

The seven-year contract is thought to be the financially-largest deal the company has ever won from a single authority.

The statutory services include adult social care, continuing healthcare and children's community health.

Unlike in children's services, there are no laws preventing councils from delegating statutory adult social work functions to profit-making providers.

Bath's adult social care services are currently run by Sirona Care and Health, a not-for-profit social enterprise spun out of the council's social services in 2011.

Virgin Care was selected over a rival bid from a consortium of local services led by Sirona.

But unions, social work leaders, staff affected and campaigners have all raised concerns over the move.

Lewis Carson from Unison said the union's members were opposed to a profit-making firm taking over services.

He said: "We're fighting to oppose the contract. We have concerns about what this means for staff conditions and service delivery.

"From past experience we know staff terms and conditions can be targeted for savings.

"Our members are passionate about the care they deliver and there are a lot of unanswered questions about what this will mean in terms of teams, workloads and day-to-day work. We're extremely concerned."